Tuesday, September 11, 2012

A military politics

Am just glancing through the CBC bits on the change of senior leadership in the Canadian Forces as the last of the Afghanistan era Chiefs of the Defence staff retires.
But the outgoing chief of the defence staff says he is most distressed by DND's inability to properly come to grip with the operational stress and mental health issues that are beginning to seem a plague on the force.
"We've come a long way, but we're not quite there yet with mental health. We're not there at all."
Yeah, that's a serious problem. Delayed onset brain injuries from IED blasts, PTSD (diagnosed or not), and the lot of it, including dissappearing from the public spotlight. Layered on an era of reduced operational tempo and training due to budget cuts, which means lots of bored young men looking for a rush, and things are going to get weird. I also think there's a better than even chance that the social unrest that follows yet another Harper term will see the Canadian Forces deployed against Canadians in ways that can't be undone.

This period will be easier for former and serving members if some of them (a lot of them) can stop falling for the pillow-talk and get over their Pavlovian Conservative politics.

1 comment:

Steve said...

medical pot would seem to be a good solution. Also LSD thearapy